rent or buy BC/reg for vacation diver?

[scubadiver888]

Hi,

I have been using rental gear for BC and reg. I'd like to have my own gear, but I would only get to dive once a year (for 5-7 days) on vacation at best, I wonder if it's still a good idea, as I read about the maintenance of the gear, if I let it sit in the closet for a year before I use it, is there a bigger chance of malfunction than the rental gear which are used and checked everyday? Is it more likely the gear would rust etc when not used and checked frequently?

thanks,

Jason

Depends what gear you want to own. Here are the basics:

- Mask
- Fins
- Snorkel
- Regulators
- BCD
- Tanks
- Exposure suit (wetsuit, drysuit)

Owning your own mask, fins and snorkel makes sense. If your mask doesn't fit well it can make for a really bad dive experience. So long as you keep the mask out of direct sunlight and way from things which degrade the silicone/rubber skirt it should last a long time. Bad fitting fins can fall off or cause cramps. Also, fins can be a very personal thing. I know some people who swear by split fins and others who would never use split fins. Snorkel is cheap enough that buying makes more sense than renting.

So what we are really talk about is the other stuff on the list.

Regulators will require servicing. Even if you don't use them, the material will degrade over time. It is like a bicycle. Even if you don't ride it and just leave it in the basement, the tires will need to be changed; they will go brittle and crack. From a cost perspective, how much does it cost to rent regulators? How much does it cost to buy them and service them? In my area I can buy a descent set for $500 and it costs $100 a year to service them. I can rent the same set for $80 for 9 days. If I'm spending $80 a year to rent and $100 a year to service. It will cost me $20 more each year to own my own regulators PLUS the initial cost of the regulators ($500). I'll never recover the cost of the regulators.

On the other hand, have I had a bad experience with rental regulators? Maybe I'm willing to spend the extra money to have regulators I know I can trust. What if I want to get in the pool at home and practice? I'll have to pay to rent regulators. Additionally, if I own my own equipment, I am more likely to go diving locally and more frequently.

So cost wise, it might be better to rent but sometimes it is not just about the money.

BCD might cost me $300. Renting would be $60 for 9 days. I just have to clean the thing after each use with fresh water. Hang it to dry and keep it semi-inflated. My current BCD is 8 years old. If I take 8 * $60, I would have spent $480. I have spent $20 for maintenance (BCD cleaner once a year; some people just use mouthwash to flush it out). Buying the BCD made sense financially. I also got used to how it trims out and improved my buoyancy control. This made a lot of sense. However, the weight made it a bother if I was taking it on a plane for a trip. I'd spend 7 days in the Caribbean. With clothes for a week and other stuff, the BCD took up a lot of space and weight. Still, I think it is worth it.

Tanks are costly. You might find an AL80 tank for $140 and renting for 9 days is $40. So it looks like after 4 years, you'd be saving money. However, every year you'd need a visually inspection ($20) and every 5 years you'd need a hydrostatic test ($45). So in 5 years you'd spend $140 + 4*$20 + $45 owning or $265 and renting would be $200. Add to that, travelling with a tank is often too much bother. So if you are not diving locally a tank REALLY doesn't make a lot of sense. On the other hand, the next 5 years will still cost you $200 to rent owning will be 4*$20 + $45 or $125. After 10 years it would be cheaper to own than rent. Plus you can always sell the tank used for $75 and it is cheaper to own for 5 years.

Owning your own tank makes sense if you are diving a lot, using different size tanks, trimix, etc. At that point, you are probably spending a lot of money on scuba and you start collecting equipment like it is candy.

I bought my first tank because (a) I was diving local, (b) I was diving a lo, (c) it was on sale and (d) I found I was diving more if I always had a tank of air in the basement.

Fit for a wetsuit is very important. Often you can rent a wetsuit for $80 for 9 days. Buying versus renting will be around the same for you. Travelling with it could be a pain (coming home it is often damp/wet and weighs more) but a good fitting wetsuit can keep you a lot warmer.

Anything else you are considering buying versus renting? Are the costs different in your area? Are you travelling or diving local? If you go to a dive shop they are probably going to figure out some reason why buying is better than renting but they are in the business of selling you equipment and might be biased.

 

[cwhite6]

I am facing the same problem as you. What I have come up with is to buy myself a wrist mounted computer and a BC when I get the funds this fall. I saw a really nice ScubaPro Knighthawk with only 13 dives on it for $250 on the classified threads here on SP that would fit me. Also some nice computers for less than $350. I want a computer for dive tracking and planning for when I do get to dive and I do not want to use a rental I may be unfamiliar with. The BC is a personal fit thing to me. The service costs on a regulator are keeping me from buying one until I can dive more. $15 a day to rent locally for something that will be serviced already for me is not bad. I will probably buy a wetsuit also just because I am an odd size. I already own my own masks, fins and snorkel.

 

[s.s.seafan]

Depends what gear you want to own. Here are the basics:

- Mask
- Fins
- Snorkel
- Regulators
- BCD
- Tanks
- Exposure suit (wetsuit, drysuit)

Anything else you are considering buying versus renting? Are the costs different in your area? Are you travelling or diving local? If you go to a dive shop they are probably going to figure out some reason why buying is better than renting but they are in the business of selling you equipment and might be biased.

Thanks for your detailed reply, I should add that I have mask, snorkel, wetsuit, fins, so I'm thinking about BC, Reg, computer.

There are local lakes where I did my OW and could go practice, but the real diving I do has been, and will be travel diving.

Based on the response so far, it sounds that it really doesn't make sense to buy reg, cost factor aside, using it only 5-10 times a year and letting it sit for the rest, seems a higher risk of malfunction than rentals that are used everyday (by others)

It seems the maintenance of BC is rather simple - if I wash it thoroughly after a trip, and let it sit in closet till the next one, would it last for a long time? Part of the reason of thinking buying it is that I could use it to practice getting better buoyancy control, and familiarity of it is a plus so I know where things are.

 

[Mossman]

Thanks for your detailed reply, I should add that I have mask, snorkel, wetsuit, fins, so I'm thinking about BC, Reg, computer.

There are local lakes where I did my OW and could go practice, but the real diving I do has been, and will be travel diving.

Based on the response so far, it sounds that it really doesn't make sense to buy reg, cost factor aside, using it only 5-10 times a year and letting it sit for the rest, seems a higher risk of malfunction than rentals that are used everyday (by others)

It seems the maintenance of BC is rather simple - if I wash it thoroughly after a trip, and let it sit in closet till the next one, would it last for a long time? Part of the reason of thinking buying it is that I could use it to practice getting better buoyancy control, and familiarity of it is a plus so I know where things are.

A computer with user-serviceable batteries requires the least maintenance and they're the most variable piece of equipment. All regs are pretty much the same, BCs have minor variations but the important stuff like the inflator hose buttons are universal. Each computer, however, has its own method of displaying pertinent info and being operated/programmed. Plus they're very easy to carry on trips.

 

[g1138]

Based on the response so far, it sounds that it really doesn't make sense to buy reg, cost factor aside, using it only 5-10 times a year and letting it sit for the rest, seems a higher risk of malfunction than rentals that are used everyday (by others)

It seems the maintenance of BC is rather simple - if I wash it thoroughly after a trip, and let it sit in closet till the next one, would it last for a long time? Part of the reason of thinking buying it is that I could use it to practice getting better buoyancy control, and familiarity of it is a plus so I know where things are.

Rental regs can vary on both sides of the spectrum. I've seen some LDS's that will replace your defective rental 4 times before you get a descent working one.
We're talking small problems such as free flows, large breathing resistances, defective compass, worst case you get a broken gauge. Alone they won't hurt you badly, but add a few other things into the mix and it could lead up to an incident.

BC's are a little less finicky. You may be missing plastic D-rings or straps may have broken and quickly tied/macgyvered back together.

On the other hand my university has it's own set of gear that is kept top notch, has been beat up, been crapped on by sand, and dunked without it's rinse cap on a few occasions. All 40 regs, computers, and gauges still work.
I've seen my fair share of LDS's that have gear in the same or even better condition.

So, point is, if you find a good LDS with a decent tech, rental regs can be just as good as your own.
But there are places that will make you wish you weren't renting.

 

[mike1010]

With regular maintenance id say buy the gear. how much is your safety worth? the gear at many of the places i've visited outside of the United States were in poor condition at best bcs held together with zip ties, and regs with no ziptie on the mouthpiece and broken consoles. If you can afford it buy good used gear and keep up on the maintenance that way you know your gear and know what to look for if there is a problem. I would purchase, reg computer then bc in that order.

Sent from my SCH-I905 using Tapatalk

 

[scubadiver888]

Thanks for your detailed reply, I should add that I have mask, snorkel, wetsuit, fins, so I'm thinking about BC, Reg, computer.

There are local lakes where I did my OW and could go practice, but the real diving I do has been, and will be travel diving.

Based on the response so far, it sounds that it really doesn't make sense to buy reg, cost factor aside, using it only 5-10 times a year and letting it sit for the rest, seems a higher risk of malfunction than rentals that are used everyday (by others)

It seems the maintenance of BC is rather simple - if I wash it thoroughly after a trip, and let it sit in closet till the next one, would it last for a long time? Part of the reason of thinking buying it is that I could use it to practice getting better buoyancy control, and familiarity of it is a plus so I know where things are.

Actually, the risk of failure for personally owned regulator is low. If you only dive once a year you'd have it serviced before you go on your dive trip. When I first started diving it was only during dive trips. I NEVER went diving locally. I was actually certified in the Caribbean. I get my regulators serviced every February/March because dive season starts in May. If I was going on a trip and I knew it, I'd get my regulators serviced well before the trip.

When you get a regulator serviced they typically replace all the parts which wear out. It is almost like getting a new regulator... if your tech knows what he is doing.

I never consider a computer a necessity. I used tables for 7 years before I purchased a computer. When I first started diving I was a bit of an air hog. I would ALWAYS run out of air before I reached the NDL for the maximum depth. Having a computer wouldn't have helped me. Once I became more comfortable in the water and gained better buoyancy control, I found my air consumption improved greatly (good reason for your own BCD). At some point (around 24th dive) I found I was ending dives with plenty of air because I reached my NDL. For example, a dive to 60 feet is 55 minutes. At first I'd run out of air after 40 minutes. Now I reach 55 minutes and still have half a tank.

My dive plan using a table would be go down to 60 feet, stay at 60 feet for 55 minutes, come up. The reality was that I was sometimes at 60 feet, sometimes more shallow. When I was more shallow I was nitrogen loading less but I couldn't calculate that using tables. When I started using a computer, it would adjust as I changed depth. It would let me dive for 1 hour 10 minutes before it told me I reach NDL. So I could get a few more minutes out of a dive. This is one advantage of a dive computer. It does multi-level dive calculations so you get a longer dive and still stay within recreational dive limits.

So if you find your ending a dive because you run out of air, using a computer (rent or own) does not make sense. If you are ending a dive because your table calculations indicate your have reached your NDL, then a dive computer might make a lot of sense. Owning a computer makes a lot of sense. They last for years. You can get a good nitrox compatible computer for $300. If renting one costs $80 and batteries cost you $50 every few years, you will spend more in 4 years renting. Additionally, the longer you use your computer the more familiar you will be with it. You might have to rent different computers over a 4 year period. I don't want to spend my vacation learning a new dive computer.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

A new BC can be had for $250-275. Absolutley no reason to pay more than 300 for a recreational BC.
A complete reg set can be had for less than 500. If you get one that requires service every two years your maintenance cost is now cut in half.
Leisure Pro has a perfectly good computer for 150 bucks. Unless they sold out. Oceanic Veo 100. You can get a nitrox one for 250 from them.

The other thing about owning your own gear in addition to the peace of mind that comes from knowing what you are using is that it may spur you to dive more often and dive locally. Even before I became an instructor if I would not have been able to dive locally I would not have bothered getting certifed at all.

 

[s.s.seafan]

A new BC can be had for $250-275. Absolutley no reason to pay more than 300 for a recreational BC.

Which brand/model do you have in mind? I just looked it up on scuba.com and most are in the $400-$500 range.

 

[imwright1985]

as jim said, you could very easily go that route. The gear that I like (why would i buy something I dont like) all tends to run in the 500 range for BC, and 500 up for a reg set which is why I provided it as an example (A used BC is a good buy too aslong as it fits, and isnt beaten too badly (holds air, or just needs power inflator swapped which is 35 bucks). I say Buy a BC with a standard power inflator 99/100 times the LDS rent out BC's with standard power inflators so their regs are set up for that, and buy a wrist mount computer (then your only gauges needed are PSI and compass possibly). From there your investment will payoff aslong as you wash/dry the BC and leave it with a slight puff of air to keep the sides from sticking. I would recommend checking your local diving though because you may find stuff locally that you like causing you to dive more. if that becomes the senario then you can buy a reg set that will pay its self off


Leisure pro has about 5 BC's that are in the 200-400 range